2026 TN elections | Veterans take 50% as AIADMK releases 2nd list for 127 seats

CHENNAI: AIADMK general secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami on Friday released the party’s second list of 127 candidates, in addition to the 23 candidates announced earlier, leaving only 19 constituencies, of which 12 are in Chennai. The list indicates a preference for continuity, with around 50% of the candidates being sitting or former MLAs and former MPs.

The combined list comprises 35 former ministers, 46 sitting MLAs, 29 former MLAs and six former MPs, while 42 candidates are new faces. As many as 54 candidates are the party's district secretaries.

Several former Ministers have not been accommodated in the list, including S Semmalai, Vellamandi Natrajan, SS Vaigaiselvan, V Saroja, VM Rajalakshmi, B Valarmathi, M Paranjothi and Pandiarajan. Former Assembly Speaker P Dhanapal, the sitting MLA from Avinashi, has not been fielded, with the constituency allotted to the BJP.

The Bodinayakkanur constituency, previously represented by former Chief Minister O Panneerselvam, who joined the DMK, has been allotted to VT Narayanasamy, the party’s deputy propaganda secretary.

In Coimbatore, where it is contesting nine out of the 10 seats, it has renominated seven sitting MLAs, including Amman K Arjunan, who is changing to Coimbatore South from his sitting Coimbatore North seat.

The AIADMK has named 17 women candidates. Among them is Leema Rose Martin, the wife of lottery baron Santiago Martin, who recently joined the party after quitting the IJK. She has been fielded from Lalgudi.

Amid criticism from minority communities over its alliance with the BJP, the party has fielded only one Muslim candidate, Syed Sultan Samsudeen, from Palayamkottai. It has not nominated candidates from the Muslim-majority constituencies of Ambur and Vaniyambadi.

The party has already allotted 65 seats to its alliance partners. Of the candidates announced so far, 72 are graduates, including doctors, advocates and engineers.

Party sources said the decision to retain nearly half of the candidates was aimed at balancing community representation and leveraging local popularity.